Duffy Urges College Teams to Coordinate Flights With FAA

At a White House briefing on November 13, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged college football programs traveling by charter to contact the Federal Aviation Administration to arrange departure times. He said larger general aviation movements would get priority over smaller ones, and cited the number of people traveling on team planes as a reason to help them get moving for their November 14 games.

The nationwide ground stop was lifted at 8:15 p.m. Eastern on November 13. That reopening did not immediately resolve the teams’ travel disruptions. Auburn and Purdue switched to buses for trips to games against Mississippi State and Iowa, respectively. The SEC rescheduled Auburn’s Mississippi State matchup, shifting it from a noon Eastern kickoff to 4:15 p.m. on November 14; television coverage had not been set.

Texas and Tennessee returned to campus during the stoppage, then began arranging flights to reach their game destinations before November 14. Conference officials also discussed possible kickoff changes with broadcast partners, including exchanges of game time slots.

The Big 12 announced four schedule changes for November 14: Kansas-West Virginia, carried by ESPN2 at 3:30 p.m. Eastern; Arizona State-UCF, on ESPNU at 5:30 p.m.; Baylor-BYU, airing on FOX at 7 p.m.; and an Arizona-Utah contest on FOX at 10:30 p.m. Duffy’s suggestion gave affected teams a route to coordinate with the FAA, while they worked to secure travel and preserve preparation time.